Stake body for vehicles



Juiyi 4, 1939.

H. COHEN STAKE BODY FOR VEHICLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 14, 1938 HTTORIVE YS y 1939. H. COHEN 2,164,448

STAKE BODY FOR VEI IICLES Filed Feb. 14, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 4, 1939 UNITED STATES PTENT' OFFICE STAKE BODY FOR VEHICLES corporation Application February 14, 1938, Serial No. 190,485

6 Claims.

This invention has relation to an improved platform stake body such as commonly employed for trucks or like vehicles where a solid side or wall body is not desired or particularly required for the purpose of transporting the special class of material which is to be carried in the body.

Heretofore platform stake bodies have customarily been made of the usual side, front, and rear sections made up of horizontal boards carried by either wooden or metal stakes. The boards are usually made from an especially hard wood, preferably maple, owing to the severe wear and tear thereon in the practical use of the body. When wood is used for the body sections, it is necessary to finish the same for preservation and appearance purposes, and this adds materially to the cost of the wood, which is costly itself when the proper kind of wood is selected and used.

The aim of this invention has been to do away with the employment of wood for the construction of the stake body or any similar body, and the desired result has been achieved by means of the special construction of metal board members of the invention as hereinafter specifically described.

In the carrying out of my invention I have devised a board member capable of being made of two mating or matching sections of metal, said sections being produced in uniform unit lengths and each being of flanged construction in that flanges are projected from the edge portions of the body of each section. In cross section the sections of the board member are of somewhat U-shape, therefore, and the two sections of each board member are assembled by telescoping or forcing one within the other and attaching them together permanently.

One of the problems of making board members from metal is to use a metal of minimum gauge in order to obtain lightness and yet produce board members of maximum required strength.

A preferred embodiment of my invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary view of a platform stake body showing side and rear slat sections held in place by pressed steel stakes, the slats of the sections being made up of what are termed board members or units which comprise the present invention.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of one of the board members constructed according to the invention.

Figure 3 is a top plan or edge view of the same, illustrating further the connection of the stakes to the board members.

Figure 4 is a transverse or vertical section through one of the board members.

Figure 5 is a detail view of one of the securing bolts, with a spanner type nut employed for attaching the stake keepers or holders to the board member.

Figure 6 is a plan view of Figure 5.

Referring now to the drawings and describing the invention specifically, reference is first made to Figure 1 to indicate that, so far as the general form of the stake body is concerned, no essential change is made from the ordinary construction except in regard to the production of the slats of the slat sections in the form of metal board members instead of Wood board members. By reason of the special construction of my metal board member at points where the vertical edges of the board members meet and are connected in order to form a full length slat section, the adjacent edges of the board members are rounded, and so produce small V-spaces. With the ex ception of the foregoing, the shape and appearance of the metal slat sections is largely the same as when wood board members are employed, since the metal will be finished as may be desired with paint, lacquer, or the like, just as would be the board slat sections as made today.

A platform stake body of the invention comprises, therefore, as usual, the platform or "base i, the vertical stakes 2 made of pressed steel or like metal and having their lower ends fitting in sockets in the platform or base I, said stakes carrying the slat sections which comprise the horizontal board members 3 attached to the stakes. For the purposes of assembly, a series of vertically spaced horizontal board members 3 will be secured to a pair of stakes 2. The stakes 2, so far as the present invention is concerned, may be of substantially a type using metal construction heretofore proposed, and the stakes are attached to the board members 3 by special fastening means which, in the carrying out of the invention, are availed of to assist in connecting the sections of each board member 3.

Now referring to Figures 2, 3, and 4, it is notable that each board member 3 is composed of an outer plate 311 and an inner plate 31). These plates are substantially coextensive in area, the inner plate 3b being formed with a right-angularly projecting flange 30 extending outwardly from its edge portions. The edge portion of the plate 3b that constitutes the inner section of the board member is formed with a countersink or recess in its inner surface, the same designated 3d. Somewhat similarly to the section or plate 3b, the outer section or plate 3a is equipped at its edge portion with a flange 3e, and said flange 36 projects laterally or at a right angle from the edge of the member 3a so as to receive snugly or close-fittingly therein the flange 3c of the member 31). In other words, the flange 3e of the outer plate or section 3a surrounds the flange 3c and snugly fits thereagainst when the plates 3a and 3b are so assembled that the flange 3c telescopes, practically speaking, into the flange 3e and snugly fits thereagainst.

In the formation of the flange 36, the outer section or plate 3a is formed with an edge bead 4 which is pressed laterally from the member 3a in the direction of the plate or member 31) and at a point slightly spaced from the flange 3e so that when the plates 3a and 3b are assembled, the free edge of the flange 3c. enters with a slight wedging action into the space between the flange 3e and the bead 4. The bead 4, by being pressed from the surface of the plate or section 3a, affords a reinforcement for the edge portion of said plate in a self-evident manner.

Also, when the plates or sections 3a and 3b are assembled together, the section 3b telescoped into the section 3a so to speak, the said parts are prevented from separating by forming edge flanges 5 on the flanges 3e of the outer section 3a, which flanges 5 are pressed laterally and inwardly from the flanges Be as a final assembling operation, so that the flanges 5 enter the countersinks or recess portions 3d of the edge portions of the section 3b, as previously referred to.

The foregoing describes the method of assembling and connecting the outer section or plate 3a with the inner section or plate 3b.

It is requisite that great strength be provided in a board unit or member such as has been described, strength equal to or greater than that of the ordinary board members that are made of maple or similar hard wood, and with this in mind, having in view the fact that according to the construction set forth the outer section 3a and the inner section 3b are largely spaced apart throughout their areas, I provide, first, longitudinal corrugations 6 projecting inwardly from both the plates or sections 3a, and 3b. These longitudinal corrugations extend pretty nearly the whole length of the plates, and they afford one effective means of strengthening or rigidifying the plate structures 30, and 3b. Secondly, I provide, for this purpose of maintaining the parts 3a and 3b rigidly spaced apart, conical shaped projections I extending toward each other from opposite portions of each of the members 3a and 3b, and pressed inwardly by a die or similar means in the formation of the parts 3a and 3b in manufacture.

The central portions of the projections 1 are apertured, and at the places where they are apertured these projections meet in abutting relation, and therefore by so meeting they produce conical, strong, reinforcing parts tending to maintain the sections 3a and 3b properly spaced at the points where the projections "I meet each other, and the bracing effect really affects the whole board member structure.

Not only do the projections I perform the function which I have described by way of reinforcement or strengthening of the board member structure, but, since these parts I are apertured, the fastening bolts 8 used to secure the stakes 2 to the board members which make up the slat sections of the stake body are likewise caused to pass through the sections 3a and 3b at the points where the projections I are located in proper spaced relation to facilitate the attachment to the stakes 2. Now the fastening bolts are made up of the bolts proper and spanner nuts 9, said spanner nuts being shaped conically so as to fit into the innermost hollow portions of the inner projections l of the section 3b of the board member. The bolts 8 terminate flush with the inner surface of the section 3b, and, similarly, the inner edges of the spanner nuts 9 when screwed in place terminate flush with the inner surface of said parts 3b, so there will be no projecting elements whatsoever at the inner side of the board member when the structure is completed and ready for use.

It is contemplated, as one convenient way of manufacturing my board member, that the projections I shall be pressed inwardly from the respective parts to which they are attached, at a point in alinement with certain of the corrugations 6, but this is not a necessary feature of the invention, for it is obvious that the parts I may be located at places other than in the length of certain of the corrugations, and it is furthermore obvious that, if desired, additional members 'i may be pressed from the parts 3?) and So if it is desired to employ the same for additional reinforcement of the said parts in such a manner that they may not be forced together under shocks or blows that they may receive, especially when loading the stake body and incident to the loaded materials hitting the inner sides of the slat sections.

I have found that by the construction of board members in the manner above set forth, the weight of each board unit or member is very little more than the weight of a solid maple board member such as is commonly used today. I have found that much greater strength is obtained by my metal structure substituted for the wood board member, and, moreover, the metal board members or units of the invention may be supplied readily for replacement purposes and with very little labor and time may be removed and replaced, in an obvious manner.

I do not wish to be limited to the use of my board members as constructed, as set forth herein, solely for the particular use emphasized primarily herein. Said metal board members may be employed for other purposes than in stake bodies and will very efliciently perform their functions under such conditions.

So far as the stake body illustrated in Figure l ih concerned, the fastening means between slat sections, designated H] at the corners and H at the points where the slat sections join in the same plane, are conventional and immaterial to the invention per se.

The telescoping or nesting of the flanges of the plates is conducive to producing extreme rigidity of the edge portions of the board units when the said plates are assembled to form the same.

Conical lock washers as shown at l2 in Figures 5 and 6 may be interposed between surface of the projections I and the spanner nuts 9.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided an effective steel or metal board unit having all of, and even greater advantages than the ordinary wood board unit as to strength and smooth formation, there being no protruding parts at the inner side of the metal board unit, and the weight of the metal unit being very little greater than that of the wood board type.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. A metal board unit for stake bodies or the like, comprising spaced sections, each section consisting of a plate having laterally projecting flanges and the flanges of the two plates being nested together when the plates are assembled, the plate having the outer flange being provided with a bead closely spaced from the flange within the confines of the latter, and the plate having the inner flange being disposed so the free edge of such flange fits snugly between the flange and bead parts of the plate first referred to combined with fastening means for holding the plates together to produce a board unit.

2. A metal board unit as claimed in claim 1, wherin certain of the fastening means connecting the plates together comprise fastenings for stakes, and stakes attached to the outer side of the board unit by means of the last mentioned fastenings.

3. A metal board unit as claimed in claim 1 wherein the plates are formed with projections pressed therefrom into the space between the plates so as to abut with one another to provide reinforcing spacing webs between the plates, fastenings passing through said projections, and stakes held in place by the last mentioned fastenings.

4. A metal board unit of the class described, comprising spaced sections in the form of flat plates, the said plates being formed at their edge portions with lateral flanges projecting toward each other, the flange of one plate being outermost receiving snugly the flange of the other plate and fitting around the latter, said outermost flange being formed with a holding flange extending completely about the perimeter of its plate in the plane of the plate having the flange surrounded by the outermost flange, so as to hold the two flanged plates together.

5. A metal board unit as claimed in claim 4, combined with projections pressed inwardly from the two plates toward each other, the inner ends of the projections abutting and providing reinforcing webs to space the plates apart.

6. A metal board unit as claimed in claim 4, combined with projections pressed inwardly from the two plates toward each other, the inner ends of the projections. abutting and providing reinforcing webs to space the plates apart, the plates being corrugated longitudinally by rib-like corrugations projecting inwardly from the outer faces of the plates, and fastenings passing through the projections aforesaid, stakes held in place by said fastenings, the fastenings comprising nuts seated in the projections adjacent to which they are disposed, so as to lie flush at their outer sides with the outer side of the plate adjacent to which they are disposed.

HARRY COHEN. 

